Combined hat and coat rack.



No. 664,849. Patented Jan. 1*, 1901. w. u. GRANGER.

COMBINEDHAT AND COAT RAGK.

(Application filed Jan. 22, 1900.)

(No Model.)

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fliinesses:

NOTOJJTuQ. vusummuu a llNTTnn STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM H. GRANGER, OF KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI, ASSIGNOR OF ONE- HALF TO EDXVARD LEWIS FOUTCH, OF SAME PLACE.

COMBINED HAT AND COAT RACK.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 664,849, dated January 1, 1901.

Application filed January 22, 1900- Serial No. 2.338. kNo model.)

To aZZ whom, it may concern:

ie it known that I, WILLIAM H. GRANGER, of Kansas City, Jackson county, Missouri, have invented certain new and useful improvements in Combination Hat and Coat Racks, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to that class of hat and coat racks for use in tonsorial parlors, hotels, restaurants, and other public places, whereby the articles of clothing suspended thereon are locked in position in order to eliminate an accidental exchange and provide a positive check against an unauthorized appropriation of ones coat and hat by another, the object in this connection being to produce a rack of this character provided with a key-tag which is utilized as a means of quickly identifying and unlocking a particular rack (that the garments thereon may be removed) of more simple, cheap, and ornamental construction than any with which I am familiar.

With this object in view the invention consists in certain novel and peculiar features of construction and combinations of parts, as will be hereinafter described and claimed,

and in order that it may be fully understood p reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 represents a perspective view of a hat and coat rack embodying my invention. Fig. 2 represents a central vertical section of the same. Fig. 3 represents a face view of the box containing the locking devices. Fig. 4 is a section taken on the line IV IV of Fig. 2. Fig. 5 is a detail perspective view of the key-tag.

Referring to the drawings in detail, 1 designates a wood frame, which may be of the form shown or any other suitable or preferred form, or it may be in the form of a continuous molding extending clear across a room or for any distance, particularly in a room devoted primarily to use as a coat and hat room in a public building, and 2 designates a double-pronged hook secured to said frame at a suitable point, the lower prong being designed to receive a coat and the upper one a hat.

Vertically above the hook 2 is a cast-metal box of ornamental form by preference, and

said box consists of the body portion 3 and the face-plate 4, said body portion and face-plate being provided with alined holes, through which extend screws 5 for securing the box to the frame and incidentally for clamping the face-plate to the box, as shown clearly in Figs. 1 and 2. The back of the box is provided by preference with an opening 6 and its sides with notches 7, terminating in small semicircular notches 8, and fitting snugly in the notches 7 are a pair of ears or flanges 9, projecting rearwardly from the face plate and provided with a semicircular opening 10 registering with the semicircular notches 8 and forming in conjunction therewith circular bearing-holes.

11 designates a ratchet-roller terminatingin reduced cylindrical ends 12 and fitting within the box, with its axis in alinement with the bearing-holes above referred to. Spirally encircling said reduced ends of the ratchet-roller are coil-springs 13, which bear at their opposite ends against the roller and the flanges 9 and the sides of the box, (see Fig. 4,) these springs being sufficiently powerful to maintain the roller in any position to. which it may be adjusted, for a purpose which hereinafter appears.

14 designates a wire frame of substantially oval form and terminating at its ends in theinwardly-projectinglongitudinally-alined arms 15, which find a bearing end in said bearing-holes and are secured radially and axially to the ratchet-roller, the latter being intended to act as a shaft or axis for the movement of the frame 14, as hereinafter appears.

16 designates a series of holes or openings in the face-plate near its upper end, and 17 a pair of ears or lugs projecting rearwardly from said plate above said openings and connected by a pin or shaft l8. l9 designates one or more dogs pivotally suspended from said pin or shaft, each dog being opposite one of the holes 16 of the face-plate, said dogs being maintained in their proper positions opposite said holes by suitable separating-sleeves 20 upon the shaft or pin 18. The dogs are preferably of the gravity type and are provided with teeth 21 at their lower ends, which normally engage one of the teeth of the ratchetroller 11, and shoulders 22, bearing against the face-plate ofthe box and preventing the dogs from swinging too far forward, so as to crowd and possibly interfere with the free action of the roller. As the box is made as shallow as possible, the opening 6 serves as a receptacle for the lower ends of the dogs when they are swung back out of engagement with the ratchet-roller to permit said roller to be rotated in the direction indicated by the arrow, Fig. 2, in order that the frame 14 may be swung forward (see dotted lines, Fig. 2) to permit the garment and hat to be removed from the hook 2. When said frame is swung forward a sufficient distance and released, the springs 13 by their pressure against the roller and the box maintain the frame in such position that both hands may be free to remove the hat and coat instead of requiring one to be used in holding the frame up out of theway.

In order to prevent a person from carelessly taking a coat and hat (or either) which do not belong to him, it is necessary for him to first throw the dogs 19 back to inoperative position, and that this may be easily accomplished by the person whose coat and hat are suspended from a particular hook I have provided what I term a key-tag 23, adapted to be normally suspended from the hook 24 projecting from the central portion of the faceplate, the opening 25 of the tag being sufficiently large to allow of a limited pivotal movement upon the hook from which the tag may also be detached. The tag of a particular box is correspondingly marked. For instance, the person holding tag N0. 1 will know that from the hook of box No. 1 are suspended his coat and hat. This tag is provided with one or more rearwardly-projecting ears 26,

registering with one or more of the openings 16 in the face-plate, in order that by pressing ones thumb against the lower end of the tag the pin or pins will be caused to apply pressure on the dogs 19, and thus throw them back to an inoperative position, as hereinbefore explained, leaving the frame 14 free to be pivotally operated, and in order that the pin or pins 26 may invariably register with the opening or openings a pair of guide-arms 27 proj ect forwardly from the face-plate at opposite sides of the tag, and to the end that the latter maybe more readily detached from the hook it is beveled at its lower rear edge, as at 28,

to facilitate the insertion of the end of onesfinger or nail rearward of the tag.

It will be understood, of course, that the dogs and registering holes of one box will be so positioned that the pins of only the corresponding key-tag will enter them when suspended from the hook in order that the holder of one tag willfind it impossible to utilize the same for the purpose of unlocking an unmated box. 7

This device is intended primarily to prevent a person from carelessly taking a hat and coat which do not belong to him, and,

in fact, will prevent ajp'erson inan assembly from intentionally doing the same thing with- A maliciously-inclinedperson of course can unlock the device by inserting a series of indepe'ndentpins out attracting attention.

or wires through the holes 16, and thus throwing the dogs back; but this couldnot very well occur in a room through which people were constantly passing.

From the above description it will be apparent that I have produced a coat and hat rack which embodies the features of advantage enumerated as desirable in 'the statement of invention.

Having thus described the invention,what I claim as new, and desire to secure byLetters Patent, is

1. A coat and hat rack, comprising asuit able support, a hook projecting therefrom, a

box arranged adjacent to the hook and provided with a hook and a hole, a ratchet-roller journaled in the box, a swinging frame'or loop 14 provided with inwardly-projecting arms 15 journaled in the box and secured to the ratchet-roller, a dog pivoted within the box and engaging said ratchet-roller, and a key-tag 23 provided with a hole to engage-the box-hook and a pin to project through said hole and effect the disengagement of the dog and ratchet-roller, all arrangedsubstantially as described.

2. A coat and hat rack, comprising a suit- 7 able support, a hook projecting therefrom, a

box arranged adjacent to the hookv and pro the dog out of engagement with the ratchetroller, and provided also with a hole for engagement with the box-hook, and guide-pins. projecting forwardly from the face-plate at opposite sides of the key-tag, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

WILLIAM H. GRANGER.

Witnesses:

H. O. RODGERS, F. G. FISCHER. 

